Special Features

2008 PS3 Fall Preview

Although Sony's PlayStation 3 has been out for nearly two years, the console hasn't quite taken off the way many thought it would. This could be the year that that all changes, however, as this holiday season's lineup is an impressive one. Gone are the days when the Xbox 360 got the "primary" version of each game, as there are some titles (most notably EA's Mirror's Edge) that were built from the ground up to capitalize on the PS3's unique architecture. Sony's lineup is very strong this year too, with titles like Resistance 2 and Little Big Planet fitting snugly between this year's Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2, which is due early in 2009. But which games should you keep an eye on this fall? Hopefully this handy guide will help you figure out what's what!

Wildly innovating on the usual approach to RTSes on consoles, EndWar sports a snazzy voice-command system that already seems to work very well. Commanding your troops with a Bluetooth (or wired) headset is liberating, but EndWar takes pains to give the kind of restricted situational awareness that confounds even the best military leaders... after all, you're only as good a leader as your intel allows.

Set in a futuristic version of Tom Clancy's uber-militarized world, where the word "peace" is not in the dictionary, EndWar might just revolutionize console RTSes this November.

After getting a healthy glimpse of Prince of Persia at this year's E3, we found ourselves drawn to the Prince's companion Elika and her interactions with the Prince during movement and combat most of all.

Something about the way the pair moves together conveys a seemingly genuine connection between the two despite the fact that they are essentially just one character, dashing and leaping through traditional platforming puzzles. Prince of Persia's second-biggest selling point appears (quite literally) to be its art direction, which lavishes the screen with rich, watercolor brush strokes in a quasi-cel shaded style.

Worlds are colliding once again, in what may be the biggest team-up to hit gaming in years. Ed Boon and company have brought together one of the premiere fighting game franchises in Mortal Kombat and dropped in the popular heroes and villains of the DC Universe. If you've ever wondered what it would be like for Batman to beat the tar out of Sub-Zero, you should probably get out more often, but hey, it sounds like fun.

The full roster for MK vs. DCU has been unveiled, and it reads like a who's who of fan favorites from both settings. DCU villains like The Joker, Darkseid, Deathstroke, and Lex Luthor make for interesting counterparts to heroes like Green Lantern, The Flash and Wonder Woman. Combined with the MK fighters, there should be someone here for everyone.

As one of the first online console multiplayer games, SOCOM: Navy Seals was one of the key titles that helped the PlayStation 2 become one of the best-selling platforms of all time. Now the franchise is finally coming to the PlayStation 3, where online play can't be a game's only selling point. Offering up a smooth, lag-free experience for 32 players is just the start, as is the fact that the game will be available for download on PSN, in addition to the physical boxed format.

In addition to a wide variety of character-customization options and community features, Confrontation will also feature one of the best implementations of the Sixaxis controller we've seen yet. By tilting the controller to one side or the other, you'll be able to lean around corners to take potshots at any unwitting enemies. If you're an online gamer, this might be one game you can't miss.

Fighting game fans have a lot of games to choose from these days, but there's something about Namco Bandai's Tekken series that speaks to a specific subset of gamers. These are players that love the roster, with characters like the improbably-coifed Paul Phoenix and bad-boy zombie-thing Bryan Fury. This seventh iteration on the series follows up Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection by bringing back nearly all of those characters and introducing a few more, like Spaniard Miguel Caballero Rojo and Bob, the American. Seriously great names here, folks.

This newest game is already in arcades in Japan, and is the first game released using the PlayStation 3-based System 357 arcade board. In a console environment where multi-platform releases are the norm, a standout exclusive like this is a big win for PlayStation 3 owners.